Screams can be heard throughout the castle as maids rush in and out of the second queen's room, each time a young maid rushes in with a bucket and towel, another rushes out with a bloodied bucket and towel.
"We should have aborted it," Hale Holland murmured as the maids rushed past him, bowing and hurrying for a fresh towel. With each scream, he felt more anxious and began walking back and forth in the hallway.
" He'll be OK, my lord, this isn't his first child," says The first queen, speaking from the opposite hall as she sit on one of the chairs quietly observing the king, despite her dislike for the king's preference for the second queen, she had to pretend that she cared and was friendly with the second queen to win the king's favor.
He didn't respond; even though she was correct, he was still concerned for his queen; he knew his body wasn't up to the task, but the queen was adamant about having the child; he recalls their conversation when the royal doctor warned that the baby would be too big for the second queen to deliver.
"Let's get rid of it," Hale muttered, staring at the queen's belly. He wanted a male son from his omega husband, but not at the expense of his love, Dane.
" Hale! "Dane looked accusingly at the king, surprised by what he had said.
" but- Hale replied
"I can do it, it's not my first child, you know why I need this child," he says, staring at the king; he and Hale both know this has been a cause of conflict between them, as Dane has always desired a son.
Hale, The king did not care he had three sons all from the first queen although he did not love her like he loved Dane and wished for a son from Dane.
"it is dangerous you could die," Hale said lifting his queen's delicate hands and placing them on his hands.
"But I must, " Dane said sliding his hands away from the king, turned to walk away
That's how Hale remembers it now, walking up and down drenched in sweat, worried and praying that his love will survive when he hears a final scream and then silence. The king waited a few moments before deciding to check on Dane, and then the door was opened.
" How is he doctor?" The king approached the man emerging from the room; the doctor, who had worked with the royal family for 20 years, was speaking while avoiding the king's gaze.
" I am sorry my lord but- he couldn't make.." Hale not hearing what he said brushed passed the doctor and barged into the room ignoring his name being called as he saw his love, the second queen, Dane, laying there lifeless, not breathing not smiling and not looking at him.
His movement was slow the moment his eye landed on Dane.
"Dane," he murmured as he approached the body slowly. "Perhaps he's asleep," the king reasoned, "and if I call his name, he'll wake up." But he knew that was not the case; all the evidence he could see indicated that he was dead. The queen's maid and companion wept alongside the body, the blue linen bed soaking blood.
"Where is the baby?" he said, his voice devoid of emotion, as he had been trained all his life. It had always been simple for him, but this time it hurt so badly that he felt his heart bleed.
" The crib, my lord," the maid sobs as she gestures to a baby weeping in a blue crib that he and Dane chose together, a memory that brings both joy and pain at the same moment.
" The crib, my lord," the maid sobs as she gestures to a baby weeping in a blue crib that he and Dane chose together, a memory that brings both joy and pain at the same moment
He approached the crib gently, walking in the direction of the disturbance; the child had survived, but his love had not. "Because of you," he reasoned as he stared at the baby. "Why aren't you dead instead of him?" He turned to the maid, tears almost streaming down his cheeks, with hared in his eyes.
"Inform the prime minister about the second queen's death and inform him that the burial must take place by Friday," he said, holding his breath for a moment, as he avoids witnessing the dead queen by just glancing at the maid.
"What about the baby, my lord," the maid said calmly as the others mourned. "And what shall be his name?" she asked.
"Why should I name this demon after the one who took my only Dane?" Hale thought as he turned to face the newborn.
"Ellis, his name shall be Ellis," he said after a few moments and he walked out of the room, realizing that just as he couldn't look at Dane's dead body and he couldn't look at the kid.
"How is he my lord " pretending not to be aware of the queen's death the first queen asks the king as he emerges from the room.
" he his dead" he states and he walked away.
staring at the back of the king as he walked down the hall "It worked?" she thought to herself,
"the king is finally mine and mine alone"
All the years of planning had shown itself from making the king's mother force the marriage of the king and her to finally getting rid of the second queen she smiling to herself.
"He will forget about him and I will be the only one he loves," she says as she walks in the opposite direction, humming and pretending to cry when she passes a savant or maid.
